Process of dyeing fabrics.



A. BUTLER. PROCESS OF DYEING FABRICS. APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 16, 1909.

Patented 0@t.17 ,1911.

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PROOESS 0F DYEING FABRIUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 16, 1909.

1,995,888. Patented ()ct.17,1911.

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T l S A Es PATENT OFFICE. 5

ADOL PH BUTLER, OF SUNBURY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR 'IO SUSQUEHANNA SILK MILLS, 0F SUNBUBY,.PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

PROCESS OF DYEING FABRICS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 16, 1909 Serial No. 528,377.

Patented Oct. 17, 1911.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known thatI, ADOLPH BUTLER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Sunbury, county of Northumberland,

'State of Pennsylvania, have invented a cerject and for such other purposes as will here-' inafter appear, the invention comprises the process of dyeing a fabric which process comprises passing the fabric in a web, wetting the fabric with free flowing jets of dye stuff supplied in excess of what the fabric will absorb, thus dyeing the same, the excess of dye stuff being permitted to run off of the fabric into a bath with which it is.

permitted to mix so as to keep the bath of uniform strength and to be again used in wetting the fabric.

Suitable means for carrying out the above process comprise, a dyeingtub for holding a bath of dyeing liquid, rollers for winding and unwinding said fabric, and means for transferring a portion of the dye *liquid fromsaid tub to the fabric between the rollers, the excess of the dye liquid for wettingthe fabric being permitted to return to the dyeing bath in the tub and mixed therewith so as to keep the bath uniform and to be again used in wetting the fabric.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a vertical section through my improved apparatus by means of which my process may be practiced. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus; the tank being in cross-section. Fig' 3 is a plan of the apparatus. Fig. 4 is a detail of the clutch partly in section.

In the drawings '1 designates a basin or dyeing tub in which there is contained a dye bath 2. Near the upper edge of theiub are suitably secured three rollers numbered re-.

spectiyely, 3. 4 and 5, all of which are supported in suitable bearings secured to the sides of the tub. The rollers 3 and 5 are above the roller 3 is provided a supply roll 7 of fabric to be dyed, said roll being sup ported upon suitable standards 8 secured to the sides of the tub. The fabric from the roll 7 is passed down under the roller 3, then over the roller 4 and under theroller 5 to form a web 9, thence passing to a delivery roll 10 which is mounted on standards 11 on the sides of the, tub opposite the standards 8 which support the supply roll At one end of the delivery roll 10 is rotatably mountedone end of a short shaft 11 to the other end of which is secured a beveled gear 12 which is adapted to mesh with another beveled gear 13 secured to a driving shaft 14. The short shaft 11 is provided with a spline 15 upon which is slidably mounted a clutch 16 which is in the form of a sleeve and provided at one edge with notches 17 which are adapted to engage corresponding notches on the end of the delivery roll 10, the clutch beingarranged to be moved into and out of en agement with the delivery roll 10 by shi ing the clutch 16 back and forth 'u on the splined shaft 11. The supply roll 0. is also provided at one end with a clutch mechanism similar to that already described for the delivery roll 10, and the parts for that reason are given the same reference numerals. It is to be noted however, that the beveled gear 18 is arranged on the right side of the bevel gear 12 with which it is in mesh, whereas the beveled gear 13 is arranged on the left side of the beveled gear 12 with which it is in mesh, so as to drive the rolls 7 and 10 in opposite directions. As it is only necessary to drive one of the rolls at av time. each of the clutches 16 is connected to a shifting bar 19 which is provided with suitable pins 20 each of which engages a suitable slot 21. in the clutch 16,. as shown in the detail View of the clutch, Fig. 4. The shifting bar 19 is preferably pivoted at its center upon the pin 22 secured to the bracket 23 so that only one of the rolls can be drivenat a time, it being possible to set the shifting bar 19 in an intermediate position so that both of the clutches are out of engagement with the ends of the rolls.

7 From the above it will be seen that the fabric can be wound upon the delivery roll 10 by setting the shifting lever 19 as shown in Fig. 3, and when it is desired to rewind the fabric upon the roll 7 the lever 19 Is shifted so that clutch 16 on the roll is the medium of the gears 34 and 35, a suitable clutch 36 operated by means of a handle 37 being provided for shiftingthe clutch 36 into and out of engagement with the gear which normally runs loosely upon the pump shaft 38. The lower end of the receiving tank terminates in a pipe 39 the lower end of which connects with two branch-pipes 40 and 41 which extend across the tank above the web. These pipes are provided with a series of perforations 42, on their under sides, through which the dye liquid is permitted to flow in continuous jets keep the web upon the web 9 of the fabric as the same is being wound upon the roll 10, the web passing under the face of the roller 5, where it is subjected to considerable pressure on account of the tension existing in the web. This pressure acts to diffuse the dye through the fibers of the web, tending to make the dyeing effect quite uniform. The tension in the web is maintained by means of set screws 45 and 46, the set screws 45 being tightened when it is desired to wind the fabric upon the roll 10, the same being relaxed and the set screws 46 tightened when it is desired to wind the fabric upon the roll 7. The ten sion of the web is mairitained uniform by means of tension devices 50 and 51, two of which are mounted at each side of the tank. Each of the tension devices comprises a fixed guide bracket 53 having a sliding block 5 1- with a guide stem 55 sliding through the ends of the bracket, and about each stem is a spring 56 which tends to force the block' outward. The blocks 5 1 are connected by rotatable tension rods 57 as shown in Fig. 3. These devices maintain the web taut as it passes between the rolls as will be readily understood. The tension rods also tend to smooth and prevent it from becoming wrinkled or folded, particularly at the edges. l l

The operation is as follows: The shaft 14 being rotated, the web 9 is advanced from one roll to die other while the pump is a tuated, so 'as to raise the dye from the The liquid dye then flows along the p r 40 and 4-1 and falls continuouslylupon the passing web. The movement of the "sump" regulated so that an excessive thoroughly saturate the same.

amount of dye is allowed'to run upon the passing web, in other words more dye is allowed to' run upon the passing web than can possibly be absorbed by the same, the excess of dye being permitted to run off of the web into the bath, it being important that the web should not pass through the bath or the fabric immersed therein, and

for this reason the rollers 3, 4: and 5 are situated above the level of the bath in the tank. The dye which is taken up by the fabric diffuses itself in passing under the roller 5 and penetrates into the interior of all the strands of the fabric. The web is passed back and forth several times, the reversal of the driving roll being accomplished by simply operating the shifting lever 19 as before'described, the web being wet by the dye from the pipes 40 and 41 at each passage; It is necessary that the fabric should be passed through the jets of dye an even number of times, at least twice, and ordinarily about ten times, to get the required shade of color, for the reason that if the fabric was passed only once through the dye jets, the first part of the fabric passed through the dye jet would be moved relatively slow and would absorb a rela-' tively large amount of dye, but as the fabric is wound upon the roll 10 and as the same increases in diameter, the speed of the fabric under the dye jets also increases so that the fabric is dyed uniformly less and less toward the end of the fabric. This difliculty is overcome by reversing the movement of the fabric and rewinding the same upon the roll 7. In passing in the opposite direction from that described, the roller 3 will produce a diffusing pressure on the web as it passes.

Bythe above described process it will be seen that the fabric is dyedby withdrawing liquid dye from a bath of same, and pouring it in a uniform manner upon the fabric, which is passed in a web, the liquid dye withdrawn from the bath being poured upon the web in an excessive amount, the excess of the liquid used in wetting the fabric being returned to the main body of dye in saidbath and mixed therewith so as to keep the dye in said bath of'substantially uniform strength at all times by the continuous circulation and mixing of the dye. The excess dye, being in large excess, flows over the edges of the cloth, there'being merely a film left. This film is pressed into and through the cloth by rollers 3 and 5 to It is also to be noted that the main-portion of the excess dye poured upon the fabric-returns to the original bath substantially unchanged, from its original condition whereas, the excess dye which is weakened by contact with the fabric is mixed with'the main bo of the dye bath which is of substantial size to compensate for the weakening of small quanticause streaks or uneven dyed places tothe spanning webis reeled from one roll to the other.

If fabric could be dyed by always using new dye liquid the dyeing of fabric would be comparatively easy, but this method is so expensive that means must be provided for using the same dye liquid over and over again. In order to do this it is necessary that the bath of dye liquid should always be of uniform strength and not one part of the bath stronger or weaker than another, and it'is for this reason that the dye in the/above described process, is poured on theweb in an excessive amount and then returned to the dye bath and mixed therewith so as to make the bath of uniform strength before it isused over again. This continuous circulation of the dye liquid, by always pouring an excessive amount upon the web insures that the web shall always receive a uniform quality of the dye, so as not to appear upon the finished fabric.

The above method of applying the dye in excess, and then returning the same to the original bath, which is of substantial size to easily compensate for any weakened dye liquid, is far superior to passing the fabric through the dye bath itself which is never of uniform strength, or in atomizing or spraying the liquid dye upon the fabric which is likewise not successful, as the dye sprayed or atomized upon the fabric is such a small amount that the dye is never uniform and the method is likewise hampered by being so exceedingly slow and tedious as to be very expensive withoutlgood results.

In the apparatus for carrying out the above process it will be seen that the fabric to be dyed passes over the roller t and under the rollers 3 and 5 so as to give an inclined surface to the fabric so that the dye liquid which is poured upon the fabric from above the roller 4 will be uniformly distributed over the fabric and the excess will readily run off andreturn to the bath in a uniform manner. The fabric is'also kept taut as above described,=so as to prevent the fabric from sagging or wrinkling, which further facilitates the dye liquid being-uniformly distributed upon the fabric and allowing the excess to readily bath. 7 Near the bottom of the tank oppositelq adisposed guide rollers 60 and 61 are provided, which are disposed substantially be neath the rollers 8 and 5. Above the rollers 60 and 61 are arranged guide rollers 62 and 63 as shown. These lower rollers are for the purpose of guiding the web of; fabric through the tank in order to enable the fabric to be washed in a suitable cleansing bath. It is to be distinctly understood, however, that theserollers are not to be used in'the dyeing process.

While the invention has been described with particular reference to the details of construction and operation, it is not to be understood as limited thereto, as many changes may be made and still fall within the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is v 1. The process of dyeing materials from a bath of dye which comprises passing said material in a web over said bath and wholly out of contact therewith, showering dye upon such web of material in excess of that which it can absorb, and allowing said excess to flow freely from said web into the bath to be reused.

2. The process of dyeing materials which comprises showering dye upon span of such material from a bath while the same is moved under tension directly over said bath, and allowing said dye to flow freely from said span directly into said bath for reuse. p v

3. The process of dyeing fabric which comprises passing the same in an are over a bath of dye under tension, showering dye from said bath in excess upon said are, and allowing said excess to iiowfreely from said are directly into said bath for continued. use in dyeing said fabric.

4. The process of dyeing fabrics which comprises withdrawing dye'froni a bath, pouring said dye in excess upon the fabric to be dyed, passingsaid fabric in-a web out of contact with said bath and allowing said excess dye to flow freely froin saidweb into the bath to be mixed therewith for use in dyeing the fabric.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

. ADQLPH BUTLER.

/Vitnesses: j

J. Snurson Kaine, JOHN J. Sarnnnna.

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